- title: "File Type variable expansion in `.gitlab-ci.yml`"  # (required) The name of the feature to be deprecated
  announcement_milestone: "15.5"  # (required) The milestone when this feature was first announced as deprecated.
  removal_milestone: "15.7"  # (required) The milestone when this feature is planned to be removed
  removal_date: "2022-12-22"  # (required) This should almost always be the 22nd of a month (YYYY-MM-DD), the date of the milestone release when this feature will be removed.
  breaking_change: true  # (required) If this deprecation is a breaking change, set this value to true
  reporter: DarrenEastman  # (required) GitLab username of the person reporting the deprecation
  stage: Verify  # (required) String value of the stage that the feature was created in. e.g., Growth
  issue_url: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/29407  # (required) Link to the deprecation issue in GitLab
  body: |  # (required) Do not modify this line, instead modify the lines below.
    Prior to this change, variables that referenced or applied alias file variables expanded the value of the `File` type variable. For example, the file contents. This behavior was incorrect because it did not comply with typical shell variable expansion rules. A user could run an $echo command with the variable as an input parameter to leak secrets or sensitive information stored in 'File' type variables.

    In 15.7, we are removing file type variable expansion from GitLab. It is essential to check your CI pipelines to confirm if your scripts reference a file variable. If your CI job relies on the previous expansion functionality, that CI job will not work and generate an error as of 15.7.  The new behavior is that variable expansion that reference or apply alias file variables expand to the file name or path of the `File` type variable, instead of its value, such as the file contents.


  # OPTIONAL FIELDS
  #
  tiers:  # (optional - may be required in the future) An array of tiers that the feature is available in currently.  e.g., [Free, Silver, Gold, Core, Premium, Ultimate]
  documentation_url:  # (optional) This is a link to the current documentation page
  image_url:  # (optional) This is a link to a thumbnail image depicting the feature
  video_url:  # (optional) Use the youtube thumbnail URL with the structure of https://img.youtube.com/vi/UNIQUEID/hqdefault.jpg
